Maple Seed Birds {Nature Collage}

My two year old daughter was digging in her sandbox the other day when she said, "Hey! There's a feather in here!" I asked her to show me and she held up a maple seed. We used to call them helicopters because of the way they spin down to the ground, but I realized they do look a little like feathers.

We went for a walk around the lake and collected lots of seeds. It's the perfect time of year for it where we live.

Then we printed some bird coloring pages and started gluing on our "feathers". My four year old declined to participate, but the two year old and I had a great time. It was easier for her to dip the seeds into a puddle of glue and put them on rather than trying to squeeze the glue from the bottle.

Here's what we ended up with.

I chose watercolors to add some color to mine and Lainey chose glittery red. (Same thing she always chooses.)

Book Connections:Red Leaf, Yellow Leaf is a perfect tie in because Lois Ehlert uses watercolor collages with actual seeds and roots to illustrate a story about the life cycle of a tree.

If you wanted to focus on the bird aspect of the project Kevin Henkes' Birds
is a great read for preschoolers. We checked this out from the library and my kids asked for it over and over again.

If you liked this post, you might also like our bird treat ornaments that we did to go along with this book last fall!

I have been admiring these birds every time I see them on a linky party or Pinterest. I featured them this week on my blog! http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/09/the-year-round-blog-carnival-autumn.html